


What's A Family For?

by Summerwolf



Series: All Alone [4]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, May Parker (Spider-Man) & Tony Stark Coparenting Peter Parker, Michelle Jones Is a Good Bro, Ned Leeds is a Good Bro, Nightmares, Panic Attacks, Peter Parker Has Nightmares, Peter Parker Has Panic Attacks, Peter Parker Has a Family, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker has PTSD, Peter Parker is a Mess, Peter is an Avenger, Protective Avengers, Protective Tony Stark, Stark Industries, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Worried Peter Parker, and they love him, peter is traumatised
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-14 04:47:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29040381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Summerwolf/pseuds/Summerwolf
Summary: Another part of my All Alone series. You could technically read this on it's own, but will probably make more sense if you've read the other parts first.*~*Three times Peter panicked and the one time his family came together to help him feel better.
Relationships: May Parker (Spider-Man) & Peter Parker, Michelle Jones & Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Avengers Team, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: All Alone [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2031049
Comments: 12
Kudos: 73





	1. Empty Building.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for clicking on my story! I hope you enjoy it!

Peter leaned against the wall of the elevator, waiting to get to the living areas of the compound so he could collapse on the couch and preferably pass out for the next three years. School had been exhausting enough to give him a headache, and he was so thankful that it was Friday because he would probably cry if he had to go back and do it all again tomorrow without a break. He'd not been sleeping well, hadn’t been for a while actually, and an entire weekend to rest was just what he needed. 

The elevator seemed to be stopping at every single floor for new people to get on, starting and then stopping again nearly straight away, and it was taking forever. Stark Industries had fast elevators, but at that moment he wished he’d taken the stairs. Peter had always known there were a lot of floors, but he'd never realised just how many until he was having to see every single one.

Eventually it dinged on the top floor, FRIDAY's voice echoing through the small space to remind everyone that only authorised personnel could exit the elevator, and if Peter was any less dead on his feet he would be really interested in seeing what everyone was thinking at seeing a weedy teenager enter the avengers living area.

Then again… if they had worked here for any length of time, they would probably have heard the rumours that Tony had all but adopted a teenager, even if the News knew nothing about it.

He dropped his bag just inside, not needing any of his school books for now, and wandered further in, confused over how quiet it was. Normally it was pretty loud up here, his super hearing causing him to pick up every single footstep unless he was in his soundproof bedroom.

Not this time.

He couldn't hear anything. Not a breath. Not a footstep. Not a rustle of clothing. Nothing.

It was like… like no one was there…

As though they had all disappeared.

Peter's breaths started picking up, rattling in his chest as he tried to get some oxygen in his lungs. They were gone. He was alone. It was happening all over again and he couldn't breathe and the corners of his vision were going dark and his chest was hurting, his head was spinning and-

"Peter," it was Tony's voice, coming through the speakers which were normally only used for FRIDAY or music, concern and panic filling his words even as he clearly tried to keep it soothing, "it's okay, we're on our way back, just breathe, just hang in there."

It didn't sound like a recording. It sounded like Tony from right now, probably a call, which meant that… Tony must have not disappeared.

And if Tony didn't, then maybe no one else did.

Maybe… they just weren't home?

The thought was enough to start calming Peter down. He still couldn't get enough oxygen into his lungs, and he was feeling lightheaded enough to feel like he was moments away from flying away, but it wasn't getting worse like it was before.

A constant mantra of  _ 'Tony's still here, so are the others'  _ ran through Peter's head, and all he could do was desperately hope it was true while he waited to find out which would happen first. Would he pass out? Or would Tony turn up?

He could hear FRIDAY speaking, though it sounded far away, and almost like he was underwater. She seemed to be talking to someone, and Peter was fairly sure it wasn't him.

He could only hope it wasn't him.

He curled up on the floor, tears flooding out his eyes as he tried to cling to consciousness, even as darkness pulled at his vision and everything went blurry.

The sound of hurried footsteps reached his ears, gentle hands grabbing his shoulders, grounding him in the moment as the warmth of another human surrounded him.

"It's okay," Tony's voice told him, the hands on his shoulders squeezing in time with his words, "we're back, you're not alone," he promised, "just breathe."

Peter furiously forced his eyes open, needing to see the truth. He needed to see if Tony was really there, really alive. Seeing was believing after all, and if there was one thing he desperately wanted to believe, it was this.

"Hey kid," Tony said, a slightly forced smile on his face as he looked down at Peter. He was clearly concerned, maybe even scared, but it was him.

Actually really him.

Tony reached out and wiped the tears from Peter's eyes, still coaching him through his breathing. With now clear vision Peter saw the rest of the avengers hovering just outside the room. They clearly didn't want to crowd him - which Peter was incredibly thankful for - but were all still looking worried, and when Peter focused, his super hearing could pick up on their anxious words.

"I'm okay," Peter promised quietly, gripping onto Tony's shirt as he tried to ground himself back in reality, and in the present.

It was okay.

It hadn't happened again.

"What happened kid?" Tony asked, waving behind him to let the others know they could come in, though Peter could hear Natasha telling them to go slow, and not all flood in at once.

"You were all gone," Peter whispered, his eyes glued to the ground in slight embarrassment. He was pathetic. Couldn't even handle getting home to an empty compound without having a meltdown.

"Oh, it reminded you of when- of the Midnight Rider situation?"

"Yeah."

"Peter. I don't know what you're thinking, but if I know you, then you're beating yourself up over this," Tony said gently, and clearly he did know Peter well because that was exactly what he was doing. "Stop it. Okay? This wasn't your fault. You didn't do anything wrong."

"I'm Spiderman," Peter replied, "I should be able to deal with an empty room."

"You're traumatised," Tony countered, "of course you would be worried about it happening again. That isn't a weakness."

Peter sighed, feeling exhaustion pulling at him. He knew that Tony was probably right… he had experience with this kind of thing, and Peter knew he still had nightmares over what happened in Afghan, when he first became Ironman, not to mention all the other things that had happened since then.

"Am I weak?" Tony asked, a stubbornness in his eyes that told Peter he wasn't just going to let this go.

"No of course not." Tony was one of the strongest, and bravest, people Peter knew.

"Is Nat? Clint? Bruce? Steve? Thor?"

"No, definitely not." Peter couldn't see where this was going. Of course the Avengers were strong. They were the Avengers. They had saved the world countless times and were still standing on the other side.

"Even though every single one of us gets nightmares? Even when simpler things than everyone being gone have triggered us before?"

"That's different! You saved the world, you risked your life to do so! I just-"

"Lost everyone you cared about," Steve interrupted before Peter could finish, crouching down next to Peter with his own face a reflection of Tony's stubbornness. Everyone on the team was just as stubborn as all the others, and Peter had the feeling they were all planning to turn it on him.

"And then risked your future to save us," Natasha continued.

"That's not weakness. That's strength. Strength to risk everything and keep going, even when there is nothing propelling you forwards."

Peter ducked his head, a headache forming and the ground feeling like it was trembling under him. "Can we have this conversation later?" he asked, a pleading note in his tone. "I'm exhausted and- this is all a bit much."

"Yeah, course we can," Tony promised, holding out a hand to haul Peter to his feet. "Though this isn't an out. We are finishing this conversation at some point or another."

"I know," Peter agreed, and silently, he was glad. He was glad he had a family willing to argue with him until he saw his own worth. Even if he still wasn't sure if they had the same value of his worth in mind.


	2. Nightmare

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't beta this... I'm sorry I'm exhausted.   
> Please point out any mistakes you see and I'll fix them.

Peter woke up with a gasp, flying upright as he flailed in the empty air, trying to find something to cling to, something real to ground him. His chest laboured up and down, his skin was clammy and his heart racing, and tears streamed down his face as he tried to catch his breath.

It wasn't real.

He feverishly glanced around his room in the low light of night time. Everything was in its place, the clock on his bedside table telling him that it was just past three in the morning, and the slightly muffled familiar sounds of Queens at night filled his ears, just like they always did.

It had just been a nightmare, just a story his brain played out to torment him in his sleep, and maybe it was based on true events, maybe that nightmare had been his reality for a time - and an awful reality at that - but it didn't actually end like that.

It had all turned out okay. He'd got them all back. Everyone was safe and he wasn't alone anymore. He'd risked everything in that fight against Midnight Rider, but he'd won, and she had held up her end of the bargain. No matter what his sleeping brain decided to tell him.

_ 'But what if that was just a dream?'  _ The stupid voice in his head which never knew when to shut up - the one who did nothing but whisper his darkest fears in his ear as soon as he was tired enough not to instantly ignore it - asked,  _ 'what if that nightmare was actually reality, and it being sorted was the dream?' _

And even though Peter trusted his own ability to tell the difference between dream and reality, he couldn't get the thought out of his head. He knew it hadn't been a dream, he knew everyone was safe and back where they belonged!

But what if they weren't?

He tried to go back to sleep, tried for what felt like forever, but was probably not even thirty minutes. He lay down with his eyes closed, forcing his body to relax as he tried to imprint happy daydreams into his mind's eye to focus on until he could drift off. He tried counting sheep, tried coming up with a word for every letter of the alphabet until he'd gone through the entire thing twice.

It didn't work.

All his mind could see was the empty apartment, May's empty bed, the silent compound, the empty seats at school. Even with his thoughts full of words and numbers and sheep and shining suns, the darkness was there, just behind, where he couldn't force it to go away. Every time he closed his eyes it was there, and the moments his thoughts started drifting...

What if they were all still gone?

What if they were gone and he could get them back and he was stuck alone forever?

What if what he thought was just a nightmare, was actually what he would find the moment he went looking?

What if-

He shook his head, pushing himself out of his slightly clammy blankets and ignoring the shiver that ran through him when he exposed himself to the cold air. There was an easy way to solve this - maybe not once and for all, but at least for long enough for him to go back to sleep - he would just go and check if May was asleep in her bed. If she was, then he was right, everyone was back and he could go back to relaxing. And if she was gone… then at least he would know what the truth was, and would know where to focus his efforts in the morning.

A simple plan.

Two outcomes. One he would prefer, one he would have no choice but to live with.

That didn't make it any less terrifying.

He could  _ hear  _ May's heartbeat even from his room, which should have been enough to tell him what the real truth was, but it wasn't enough! He could be hearing things, a creaking of the pipes that his brain was mistranslating maybe, maybe he'd just finally gone insane and started hallucinating. It didn't even matter. What mattered was that seeing was believing, so he needed to see May. Check that she was there, check that his nightmare had been just that - a nightmare - and nothing more.

The apartment he normally thought of as home felt cold and threatening as he crept through the dark. May's bedroom wasn't far away, it wasn't a huge apartment after all, but in the dim light of the street lamps shining through the windows, it felt neverending. Every creak had him glancing over his shoulder in anxiety, and the sounds of passing cars had him tensing up unnecessarily.

It was hell. Plain and simple.

By the time he eventually made it to May's bedroom door - after what was probably less than a minute, but felt like an entire lifetime - he was exhausted. Mentally more than physically, his body still not quite sure whether it was supposed to be in fight or flight, or going to sleep, but exhausted all the same.

He breathed deeply, pushing the door opening slowly, careful to make sure it didn't squeak and disturb the person he desperately hoped was sleeping inside.

There was no creak, but there was steady breathing, and a steady heart, and a very solid looking May.

She was there.

Not even thinking about his actions, Peter found himself slowly creeping inside, walking to May's side and watching her for a moment, reassuring himself that she was real.

She was definitely real.

He reached out, gently pressing her arm. He made sure not to wake her up, not wanting to burden May with his problems. It wasn't her fault that she was freaking out over whether or not she was actually there.

She was solid. This was real.

A loud breath of relief whooshed out his lungs, his limbs feeling like jelly now that the adrenaline was starting to wear off. He slowly creeped back out the room, closing May's door behind him and trying not to trip over on his way back to his room. The exhaustion was starting to take over, and he could barely keep his eyes open, but that was okay. He could sleep now.

It had just been a nightmare.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and Kudos are love!!!


	3. Sick Day

Peter walked into school slowly, dragging his feet and having to force himself to keep his eyes open when they just wanted to stay closed every other blink. His bag felt like it was full of bricks, rather than the textbooks it was really filled with, and all he wanted to do was crawl back into his bed and go to sleep.

He was exhausted.

He'd been up till two in the morning Spidermanning, which was actually past his curfew but there had been a robbery that had taken way too long to apprehend, and then by the time he'd finally crawled back into his bed and started drifting off, he'd realised he had an entire essay in for that morning which he would have no way to finish between waking up and heading to school.

Which meant he had to write it then, before he went to sleep.

By the time he'd finished it his eyes had been aching as he'd pretty much fallen asleep the second his head had hit the pillow. Peter had been able to sneak in a quick one hour before his alarm was blaring rudely and then he was up again and getting ready for school.

If Peter hadn't already been through hell when Midnight Rider stole his family, and the following weeks when he struggled to get them back, then he would think that this was hell. He was so tired he couldn't think straight, yet here he was, having to pretend everything was fine and that it was just a normal day.

He didn't pay any attention to the halls as he walked through them, had no idea what he was saying to the few people who tried to talk to him, and he was so exhausted that he didn't notice the really weird thing until he reached homeroom and took his seat, at which point Ned's absence seemed to jump at him like a neon green elephant. He had no idea how he hadn't noticed it earlier, besides the fact he was pretty much sleepwalking at this point.

The bell rang, Mr Smith called attendance, he didn't even call Ned's name.

Ned wasn't in school.

Why wasn't Ned in school?

Peter could feel panic bubbling up in his throat, and he just had time to grab his phone from his desk before he was bolting out the classroom, his feet hitting the floor sounding like the loudest thing in school at that moment, besides the blood pumping in his ears. He could hear his teacher trying to call him back, telling him he wasn't allowed to go yet, but he didn't listen. Ned wasn't in school, and no one else had noticed anything was wrong. He had to get away. He had to- he needed to-

His breaths were ragged by the time he staggered into a bathroom stall and locked the door, every breath feeling like sandpaper against his throat. His hands shook as he pulled his phone out and opened his text thread with Ned, so much that he nearly dropped his phone at least three times, and the only reason his text was readable was thanks to autocorrect.

_ Peter >> hello? _

_ Peter >> Ned where are you _

He waited for what was probably only a minute, before getting too impatient to wait any longer.

_ Peter >> Neddddddddd? _

_ Peter >> Ned why aren't you in school? _

He waited another minute. No new messages from Ned. His texts hadn't even been read, despite the fact that normally Ned made sure to text when he wouldn't be in, so Peter knew where he was.

Still nothing. His chest was aching, his mind reeling. What if Ned had been taken again? What if he was gone, and no one had noticed? If last time told him anything it was that no one would notice, it was up to Peter to find them all.

The bell rang distantly from outside, but Peter didn't move, his eyes locked on his phone as he waited for something to happen - anything really!

A sudden raucous drew his attention, and next thing he knew there was MJ's voice.

"Peter? You in here?"

MJ was still there. No matter what was going on with Ned, he wasn't completely alone this time, and that information was enough to have him pulling back the lock on his stall and poking his head out.

"This is the boys. You're not supposed to be in here," he said redundantly.

"Well I heard talk that Peter Parker was having a breakdown in the toilet, and decided it was probably best I came to check on you, rather than one of those idiots."

"You have a point," Peter chuckled weakly.

"So come on, what happened?"

"Ned isn't here," Peter felt the panic gripping his chest tighten once more as he turned his attention back to the problem, "and he isn't answering his phone."

"Ah, okay," MJ said as though Peter's reaction was completely understandable, rather than the insane it actually was. "I'll help, maybe we'll be able to get his attention if we work together."

Peter nodded, feeling slightly calmer now that MJ was here and helping him get everything under control.

"Though we should probably find a different room," MJ continued, "this is the boys toilet after all."

A startled laugh bubbled out Peter’s throat as he nodded, following MJ out the bathroom and trying not to walk into anyone while both looking for an empty classroom, and staring at his phone like Ned might reply if he stares for long enough.

“This one’s free,” MJ said, grabbing Peter’s arm to pull him into the empty classroom, correctly guessing that he wouldn’t have followed her overwise, simply because he was too focused on his panic to be aware enough of his surroundings. Having super senses were normally awesome, but sometimes it just became a tidal wave of too much information, and this was definitely one of those times.

It got better as soon as the door was closed, only a little bit, but a little bit was still enough. 

“Alright here’s the plan, you’re going to call one of the Avengers so you can reassure yourself they’re all still here - yes I know what your brain is telling you, don’t argue, just do it - and I’ll continue trying to get in touch with Ned. Okay?”

“Yeah, okay,” Peter laughed, and that was definitely relief that was running through him. Tony’s contact was the first Avenger one on his phone, so crossing his fingers that it wouldn't just go straight to voicemail, he pressed call.

“Peter? Why’re you calling me? Shouldn’t you be in a lesson?”

An embarrassing half sob, half laugh, escaped Peter’s throat. “Have you seen everyone today?” he asked.

“All the Avengers? Yeah kid, everyone was around just before I left for a meeting.”

“So everyone's still here? No ones-”

“Disappeared? No. Is everything okay?”

Peter’s legs nearly fell out from underneath him, he was so thankful. “It’s fine,” he lied, “Ned isn’t at school today. I might have freaked out a little bit. But it’s okay, MJ is here with me, and we are trying to get a hold of Ned now. I’ll be fine.”

“Okay, but if you need me-” Tony’s concern was clear as day, even through the phone’s speakers.

“I’ll call you if anything goes wrong, I promise.”

Just then MJ’s phone chirped, and a triumphant grin spread across her face, “Ned has the flu, but he’s still here, and will probably be back at school within the week.”

“Everything's okay,” Peter told Tony, though he was saying it more for his own benefit than Tony’s, “It’s all good, we should probably get to our lessons, I’ll see you after school?”

“See you then Kid.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!!!  
> Hope you liked it!!


	4. Chapter 4

Tony sat down on the couch with a quiet groan, he was really getting too old for all this superheroing stuff, especially seeing as unlike most of the others, he didn’t have any cool powers or training, he just had a cool suit and a human body. But that wasn’t what this meeting was about, and so he pushed those thoughts away to be worried about at a later date, and turned his attention back to where everyone was gathered. Ned and MJ both looked vaguely uncomfortable, neither of them quite as comfortable in a room full of superheroes as Peter now was, and looking even more out of place than normal without the spider-kid standing next to them, but this meeting was about Peter and they had said they needed to come, and Tony wasn’t going to argue.   
  
They all cared about Peter, and it was about time they started planning how to help him.

“Peter hasn’t been the same since the Midnight Rider incident,” May spoke up, worrying her hands together as she clasped them in her lap, “he’s fine most of the time - or pretends to be anyway - but the moment he can’t get in touch with someone, he remembers when we all disappeared, and spirals from there.”

“We need to find a way for him to know we are all safe whenever he needs to, without it invading our privacy too much,” Steve said, grabbing his notepad - he was finally used to using technology for everything, but still preferred pen and paper - so they could write everything down. “Any ideas?”

“We could all just text him every couple of hours?”

“Nah, what if we are busy? Or worse, what if he starts panicking between texts. They won’t change a thing.”

“Tracker watches?”

“If they got hacked by an enemy, we would be skewed.”

“Good point…”

“What if we don’t use any fancy technology,” Nat suggested, leaning forward in her seat to put her elbows on her knees, “and instead we figure out why Peter is scared of it happening again, and go from there.”

“But we know why he’s worried, because it happened before.”

Nat sighed, sounding like she thought everyone else was missing something important. “I haven’t seen Peter having panic attacks about all buildings falling down on top of him in a while.”

Tony squinted at the change in subject, but didn't argue, figuring that Natasha was probably going somewhere with that, and he just needed to keep going until she got there. “Well no, because we talked it out, and taught him how to escape buildings, so now he is prepared if it happens again, and he doesn’t have to fear it.”

“Ohhh,” Bruce hummed in understanding, “but how are we going to teach him to deal with everyone he loves going missing without a trace?” It was a pretty obscure thing, and Bruce had a point, what on earth could they do to help if it ever happened again?

The room went silent once again, everything trying to come up with how Nat’s plan could work. It was clearly the best plan they had, but the logistics were a bit more complicated than the time with the buildings.

“Stephan?” Tony suggested, “I don’t think he and Peter are particularly close enough for him to be affected by something like this, but I think he would have the power to bring people back. He already has portals.”

“That's actually a pretty good idea,” Clint nodded, “what else? I doubt Peter will feel safe with only one plan in place.”

“Tony? Would you be able to make something which scans for- I guess magic. Scans for surges of power or worm holes being made?”

“I don’t think any of that is the correct wording,” Tony frowns, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned back in his seat, “but yes, in theory, If Thor helped me, I think I could do that.”

“Then if anything did happen, Peter - or anyone else left behind - would be able to find exactly where everyone is, and hopefully use that information to get everyone back.”

\----

They spent the next couple of hours continuing their brainstorming session. Some things they came up with would never work and instantly got thrown out, but some of them could work in theory, even if most of the time they wouldn’t in reality, and a fair few of their ideas turned out pretty good, and by the time Peter arrived they had more than enough ideas.

“What are you all doing here?” Peter asked, looking in confusion between MJ and Ned and May, “did I miss a text or something?”

“No, no missed texts, we were just… talking," Tony replied, grasping desperately for a change of subject, "do you want to watch a movie while we're all here?"

"It was about me wasn't it." It wasn't a question, but Tony answered anyway.

"Yeah, I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I understand that I'm a burden," Peter sighed, his shoulders slumping as he crossed his arms, using them as a barrier between himself and- everything else. "I'm sorry. I just- I'm sorry."

"No, Peter no," Tony said quickly before Peter could continue, "that wasn't what we were talking about! We were trying to figure out how to help you."

"You- all of you?"

"Yes. We all care about you, and we all want to help you stop worrying," Clint said with a roll of his eyes, though there was definite fondness that Tony saw in all the Avengers when dealing with their resident spider-kid.

"Did you figure something out?" Peter clearly didn't want to get his hopes up, but Tony knew Peter, and could tell he was furiously hoping that they had managed to think of something.

"Yeah, we think we have actually," May smiled, "quite a few different things actually."

"You remember how we helped you get past your problem with buildings?"

Peter shuddered, "yeah, I remember."

"Well hopefully it'll work this time as well."

Peter had hope in his eyes, Tony realised, hope that they'd be able to help him. Hope that he'd finally be able to let his fear go.

And maybe Tony wasn't certain that this would work, but he knew he would do his very best to help, and none of them would stop until Peter was back to normal.

"Thank you," Peter said, and Tony knew it was for more than just their brainstorming.

“What’s a family for?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!!  
> Kudos and comments are tight hugs for me and Peter!!  
> Have an awesome day/night!!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!!!  
> Comments and kudos mean the world to me!!  
> Have an awesome week!!


End file.
